


Scenes from the Shuttle Bay

by Flynne



Series: Garviel Shepard [9]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Gen, idiot cinnamon roll bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flynne/pseuds/Flynne
Summary: Brief moments on the Normandy during ME3.





	1. Earth

Static engulfed the wavering form of Admiral Hackett, leaving Garv standing saluting a blank screen. He took a steadying breath and turned away, raising his voice so the comm would catch his words. “Joker, set course for the Mars archives.”

 _“…Mars?”_  Garv tensed, pulse pounding in his head as he waited for his pilot to question him, too, but instead Joker just said briskly,  _“Roger that,”_  and fell silent.

Half the contents of the armor cabinet had been strewn across a nearby table, and Garv started shifting through the various components, looking for pieces that would fit him. He could feel three sets of eyes drilling into his back - Vega, Ashley, and Akil - but aside from Vega’s agitated outburst of “This is loco!” none of them said anything. Garv ignored him, knowing that the words were just James venting and not directed at him.

Akil moved up to stand beside him, taking in the blood and soot on his clothing. “It looks like things got a little hairy down there,” he said mildly.

Garv snorted. “Yeah, well. Got my bell rung a little, but I’m good.” He stopped and gave a little cough as the words caught in the back of his throat, still hot and dry from breathing in the smoke during his fight to rendezvous with the _Normandy_. “You okay?” He turned to look his brother over for the first time since he’d hurled himself aboard. Akil’s armor was covered in dust, the sharp smell of ash clinging to him, but he appeared to be unhurt.

Akil’s expression softened. It wasn’t exactly a smile, but it was close enough. “I’m all right.” He began helping sort through the armor. “I think these gauntlets will fit you,” he said, hesitating briefly before going on to ask, “What do you think Anderson is going to do?”

Garv shook his head. “I don’t know. But if anybody can kick the Alliance’s collective butt and get ‘em in gear, it’s him.” A pang of worry tightened his chest at the memory of seeing Anderson’s silhouette shrink and be swallowed by the billowing smoke clouds as the shuttle bay doors closed. The Reaper that had shot down the shuttlecraft had been scant blocks away from where they’d left Anderson. Even though it had been the Admiral’s choice to stay, it was one of the hardest orders Garv had ever obeyed. “Okay, this’ll do,” he said, gathering his chosen armor components into his arms. He headed for the open door of the Kodiak and climbed inside.

Akil leaned his back against the shuttle, standing outside the door. “What happened with the defense committee?”

Garv scowled even though Akil couldn’t see him, shedding his burned and torn uniform to change into the armor’s black undersuit. “Oh, nothing much,” he replied, cheerfully sarcastic. “They just lost contact with everything past the Sol Relay and wanted me to tell them why.”

“Ah.” Akil’s dry tone put more into the single syllable than if he’d gone on an angry tirade. “And what do they think now?”

“I don’t know,” Garv said curtly. “They’re dead.”

“Ah.” Another eloquent one-word response that lapsed into silence.

Garv bent to strap on his greaves. “What happened to you? How did you guys get onto the _Normandy_?”

“There weren’t windows in the hallway, so we couldn’t see outside from where we were standing outside the committee chamber,” Akil said. “We didn’t know we were under attack until the blast hit. By the time we regained our feet, the door to the chamber was blocked and the building seemed like it was about to come down on top of our heads. We couldn’t get to where you and Anderson were, couldn’t raise anyone on comms…” He spoke evenly and without obvious emotion, but Garv knew him well enough to hear the undercurrent of remembered worry in his voice. “I knew that if you were able to get out, you’d have to head for the ship. So the three of us ran down the hall ‘til we could kick out a window, then headed for the shipyards. EDI was a step ahead, though - the _Normandy_ was already in the air. She picked us up just a little while before she found you.”

Garv listened in silence as he fastened the last of the catches on his armor, relief that his brother was safe easing the fear and dread that had gripped him when he’d seen the first Reaper cut through the low-hanging clouds. All the same, it raised a niggling, sharp-edged doubt in his mind. Anderson had ordered him to go, and the ship had barely broken orbit unscathed; it had been the right call to make, as much as he hated to leave Earth burning behind him. But what if Akil hadn’t been on board? Would he have left if his brother had still been down there? Even though he hadn’t had to make that call, it left a cold, sick feeling in his gut, because he didn’t know what he would have chosen to do.

He hopped down out of the shuttle, glancing around. James and Ashley had disappeared, presumably to prep for the arrival on Mars. Akil looked up expectantly, holding out his helmet. Garv took it from him, but hooked his other arm around his brother’s neck and, with a clatter of armor, tugged him in for a brief but fierce hug. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said, the rasp in his voice not entirely from the smoke.

“Me, too.” Akil hugged him back, leaning in to give him a gentle headbutt before letting go. He backed up a step, composed expression darkening for the first time as his brow furrowed in a worried frown. “Mum needs to know we’re all right.”

“We’ll message her on our way,” Garv promised. “If anyone can find a way through the comm relays, it’s EDI. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll try again when we get to the Citadel.”

The assurance caused some of the tension in Akil’s face to dissipate, and he nodded once, falling in step beside Garv. “So, Mars,” he said briskly. “I don’t think we’ve been there since basic training.”

“Yeah, well.” Garv smirked, checking his supply of thermal clips on the way to the elevator. “Don't say I never take you anywhere fun.”


	2. Rannoch

****Garv climbed out of the geth fighter’s cramped storage compartment on legs that shook both from adrenaline and from reacclimating to gravity. The astonished circle of crew members surrounding the craft backed up in unison as the cockpit opened and Legion climbed out.

“Stand down!” Garv said, taking a lurching step to the left to stand between Legion and the raised weapons of the crew. Before he’d even completed the movement, he caught the familiar crimson flash of Akil’s armor from the corner of his eye and the air shimmered blue as the protective dome of a biotic barrier enclosed his squad. In spite of the tension and anger simmering in his gut, his brother’s protective instincts caused him to smile fleetingly within his helmet. “It’s okay,” he said. “This one’s friendly.”

The expressions of the crew ranged from astonishment to fear to disbelief, but one by one they lowered their weapons. The barrier dropped. Garv removed his helmet, darting a grateful glance over at Akil, who nodded once and shifted back a few steps where he could keep a watchful eye on the situation.

EDI’s voice came over the comm. _“Commander Shepard, Admiral Xen has requested that the geth fighter be turned over for study.”_

“That’s not up to me,” Garv replied. “Legion?”

“We will attempt to reach a consensus and notify you when we have made a decision,” came the reply.

Garv stifled a smirk at the veiled “Screw you, no” from the geth. He was pretty sure Legion would deny any such meaning if he said anything, though, so he just nodded in response. “You have your answer, EDI. Let Admiral Xen know I’ll keep her updated.”

_“Yes, Shepard.”_

Garv shifted his attention back to the gathered crew members. “This is Legion,” he said. “It was part of my crew when we took down the collector base. I couldn’t have managed without its help. I trust it, and so can you. Does anyone have a problem with this?” He waited until the chorus of “no, sir” had faded, then headed for the shuttle bay’s armory. Akil followed, with Garrus and Tali close behind. Garv turned to his brother as they walked. “What’s the situation?”

“Whatever you did on the dreadnought bought us a little breathing room, but we’re still in trouble,” Akil replied. “We’ve got reports that geth fighter squadrons are starting to target the quarian liveships, and the Reaper signal is still active.”

Garv set his helmet aside on the armory bench. “The signal’s coming from a base on Rannoch. The Reapers had Legion bound into the dreadnought’s drive core. They were using it to amplify the signal.” He started tugging off his gauntlets, but with the rush of fighting and escaping the crumbling dreadnought draining away, his hands were unsteady and it took him a couple tries to loosen the clasps.

Akil saw him fumble and stepped closer, lowering his voice so it wouldn’t carry. “Are you all right?”

“Later,” Garv said shortly. His stomach felt shivery and tight, and it wasn’t just the fading sensation that came from time spent in zero-G. The destruction of the SR-1 had been nearly three years ago for everyone else - almost a year ago for him - but escaping the dreadnought as it shattered and burned around him had awakened memories that he preferred not to think about, and he couldn’t spend time dwelling on it now.

Akil’s brows drew together slightly, the only change in his habitually placid expression. Garv could see his brother’s buried fury toward Admiral Gerrel beneath the relief that his team and Legion had survived the assault on the crippled dreadnought, but Akil understood his dismissive reply and didn’t press him. Instead he turned his attention to the scorched, sparking shield generator on Garv’s back. “This thing is fried. What did you do to it?”

Garv gave a lopsided shrug as he flipped open the catches on the chest plate, grateful for his brother’s understanding but not surprised at it. “We had to get to the drive core, but we couldn’t get there because all the blast doors were locked. So we climbed up the main battery.”

Akil blinked at him, then briefly shut his eyes and gave a little sigh. “Of course you did.”

Garv grinned recklessly. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Obviously it worked, and I know you wouldn’t have taken that route if you’d had any other option, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it,” Akil replied dryly.

“None of us were happy about it,” Tali put in.

“Aw, come on, admit it,” Garv said, reaching out to nudge her in the shoulder. “You had fun.”

“Yes, because my ideal day is spent making sure you two bosh’tets remember to duck.” Her eyeroll was evident even though her features were concealed behind the frosted shield of her faceplate.

“Wait, how did I get involved in this?” Garrus protested.

“Rocket. To. The face,” came the flat reply.

“That was  _one time!_ ”

Garv chuckled, beckoning a nearby engineer to come look at his armor’s shield generator. “Chen, how fast do you think you can get this fixed?”

She raised her brows at the sight of the stressed mechanism. “An hour?” she said doubtfully. 

“Good enough,” he replied, handing it over. “Do what you can.”

_“Shepard, Admiral Gerrel is on his way,”_  EDI cut in.  _“He’s taking a shuttle over from his command ship.”_

Garv’s expression darkened, all traces of lightheartedness gone. “Good,” he growled. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk with him.” He left his chestplate on the bench next to his helmet and gauntlets, stalking toward the elevator in his black undersuit and greaves. “EDI, I’m going to get changed. See if you can get Hackett on vidcom. The admiral can wait in the war room until I’m done.”

_“Acknowledged.”_

The crew parted to make way for him. Through the shuffle of footsteps, he heard Tali’s familiar step behind him and he slowed so she could catch up. “I can’t believe he shot at us,” she said tightly.

Garv grunted. “I wish I could say the same, but since this war started, I’m getting harder to surprise.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Shepard I know,” she said, gently chiding. “Not the one who has cheerfully managed to sweet-talk every cranky krogan he’s met.”

“The Shepard you know doesn’t like getting shot at,” he retorted.

“And he didn’t sweet-talk all of them,” Akil said dryly, coming up at Garv’s other side. “There was that one you head-butted. Without your helmet, of course.”

“Of course,” Tali echoed lightly. “Wearing a helmet would be cheating.”

Garv’s ire eased slightly - it didn’t diminish, but it became more focused and controlled, and there was grudging humor in his voice as he grumbled, “It’s not nice when you two gang up on me.”

“We’re not trying to be nice,” Akil replied. “We’re simply relating an accurate retelling of events.”

“It’s  _your_ job to be nice,” Tali added, picking up seamlessly when Akil stopped talking. “But we won’t hold you to that when you meet with Gerrel. Just wait until I get there so I can watch you shout.”

Garv glared at her, but struggled to hold back a smile in spite of himself. “I’ll do my best.”


	3. Cronos Station

Garv forced his way out of the Kodiak before the door finished opening, heading for the elevator just short of a run. He flipped on his com. “Joker, we’ve gotta move!” he barked. “Get us back to the fleet, pronto!”

_“Way ahead of you, Commander.”_

Garv half-turned to look over his shoulder at his squad. “Garrus, contact the primarch now. And get Wrex on the line. EDI - ”

“I am already priming the drive core,” EDI replied, striding past him on her way to the cockpit.

“Good. See if you can raise Hackett. It’s now or never.” The steady resolve in his voice just barely held - his bounding pulse sent fine tremors through his limbs, and there seemed to be a curious, distant ringing in his ears. The fate of the galaxy was balanced on a razor’s edge, and it was perilously close to falling.  _No thanks to Cerberus._

A firm hand caught him by the arm, redirecting his forward movement and swinging him around in an abrupt about-face. Garv scowled, breathing through gritted teeth, the smell of Kai Leng’s blood sizzling on his omni-blade still burning in his nostrils - but his turbulent momentum stilled as he saw that it was Akil who had caught hold of him. “I need to talk to you,” his brother said.

Garv’s brow furrowed - not in anger, but in confusion. “Now?”

Akil nodded. “Now.” He tipped his head in a silent request for Garv to follow him around behind the shuttle, out of sight from the rest of the shuttle bay and out of range of any audio sensors. He let out a little sigh. “I need to talk to you about those recordings we saw.”

“Oh…well, that’s…” Garv rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m okay, Aki. It just…surprised me, I guess.” The bone-deep chill he’d felt watching the Illusive Man casually discuss his impossible reconstruction had vanished in the fury of fighting Kai Leng, but he’d been rattled far more than he’d expected.  _Shepard is clinically brain-dead…The helmet kept the brain intact, for whatever good that will do…_  He swallowed hard against the cold knot of nausea in his gut. “I’m still me,” he said, repeating his words from before, but they lacked conviction. Even in his first uncertain days aboard the SR-2, he had never questioned his existence. But the encounter with his clone on the Citadel had shaken him more than he liked to admit, and now, hearing this…  _We cannot overcome nature…_

Akil stepped closer, his typically calm expression shifting into an earnest, intense look. “Yes, Garviel. You are  _you_. You are not a VI, you are not a clone, you are not a  _replacement_. You’re my  _brother_. I would  _know_.” His hand tightened around Garv’s arm. “You’ve destroyed Cerberus, and the galaxy is better off without it, but if it  _had_ to exist…I’m glad it was around to bring you back. You are Garviel Shepard. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Garv shut his eyes and leaned down to rest his forehead against Akil’s. “And you’re always right,” he said hoarsely.

Akil let out a gentle huff of laughter. “Damn right I am.” He waited until Garv lifted his head, then looked up at him with firm resolve. “Get moving, Garvi. We’ve got a galaxy to save.”

Garv nodded, giving him a tight, determined smile before setting off for the command center. His thoughts were still in a frenzied whirl in his head, but there was an order to the chaos, his brother’s steady presence an anchor in the storm, unfailing as always. 


End file.
